Science and technology are key to tackling poverty and promoting better well-being in the modern world, as the Millennium Development Goals and the Commission for Africa’s findings underline.
But how can scientific and technological advances – often played out on a global or corporate stage – translate into innovations that will meet poor people’s needs and concerns at a local level? How do rapid scientific advances and new technologies engage with issues of participation and accountability? And in what ways do these rapid changes challenge notions of citizenship and identity?
Based on work undertaken by the Science and Citizens programme of the Citizenship, Participation and Accountability Development Research Centre, this IDS Policy Briefing argues that public engagement in scientific debates and policy processes is necessary to address how research agendas are framed and the social purposes they serve, and to ensure that poorer people and communities will benefit from them.
Authors
